Foley’s Munster out to sink Pirates

IT IS a game that may have slipped under the radar but regardless of what happens at the RDS tonight, Munster may collect their first piece of silverware this season in the final of the inaugural British & Irish Cup against Cornish Pirates at Camborne tomorrow (6pm, Sky Sports).

Munster undertake the test after a highly impressive unbeaten campaign but coach Anthony Foley regards this as his side’s toughest assignment given the Pirates have home advantage.

“We’re really looking forward to the game,” Chris Stirling, Pirates high performance manager, said yesterday.

“But we are under no illusions of just how tough a task it’s going to be. We go into the game as underdogs, but we don’t mind in the slightest. We’ve been in that position lots of times but we’ve come through some strong tests along the way and I believe we can come through another on Sunday.”

Skipper Gavin Cattle, along with Matt Evans, Rhodri McAtee, Alan Paver, Steve Winn and former Munster player Paul Devlin are key men in Stirling’s arsenal.

Anthony Foley has had to make four changes from the side that beat Ulster Ravens in the semi-final. Tom Gleeson, Simon Zebo and Billy Holland missed that game because they were required by the Munster senior side but on this occasion Dave Ryan is missing as he is required for the Magners League game tonight in the RDS. Foley looks to have a powerful squad at his disposal and Munster are given a vote to pull of a notable success.

CORNISH PIRATES (from): W Davies, N Jackson, R McAtee, T Luke, P Devlin, M Ireland, S Winn, J Bentley, J Doherty, G Cattle (capt), C Rimmer, A Paver, P Andrew, R Storer, D Ward, R Elloway, B Gulliver, L McGlone, R Labuschagne, M Myerscough, M Evans, C Morgan, S Betty, T Holmes, B Cowan.

MUNSTER: S Scanlon; D Barnes, T Gleeson, J Manning, S Zebo; D Cusack, D Williams; D Kilcoyne, M Sherry, S Archer; D Foley, I Nagle; B Holland, T O’Donnell, P O’Mahony (capt).

Replacements: S Henry, A N Other, D O’Callaghan, P Butler, C Murray, M Lawlor, R O’Mahony.